Diving Australia - Update 18 March 2020

Age Championships

Diving Australia has today made the decision to cancel the 2020 Age Diving Championships. Whilst on one hand this was a very difficult decision, the ever-evolving and ongoing impact of the COVID-19 virus meant we had little choice. Any entries to date will be refunded in full.

We are closely monitoring the situation and taking advice from, and engaging with, the AIS, the Australian Government and a number of other entities. We are also in regular contact with our Chief Medical Officer, Dr Mark Young.

The health and safety of both our Diving community, and also the Australian community, is absolutely our number one priority.

Our hearts go out to all of the Athletes and Coaches who have been preparing diligently for this event who will now not be able to compete. And of course, those Officials and volunteers who were so looking forward to putting on a great Championship.

In that spirit, I would like to confirm that the 2021 Age Championships will be held during the Easter holidays next year (exact dates to be confirmed) in Brisbane, hosted by Diving Queensland. My thanks to all of our State Associations for their support.

I would also like to say that whilst we gave consideration to postponing the Championships until later in the year, logistically that was simply not feasible given the uncertainty around COVID-19 and the fact that a number of our Age Clubs train at outdoor venues and cannot train through winter.

We will, however, give consideration, should demand be there, to holding (or endorsing/supporting other events) an invitational style competition later in the year to give our Age divers a competition this year. Once the COVID-19 situation has resolved (which we all hope will be sooner rather than later) we will revisit this concept.

Open and Elite Junior Nationals

At this stage, no formal decision has been made regarding Open and Elite Junior Nationals scheduled for June and July.

These events double as nomination trials and selections trials for the Olympics and World Junior Championships respectively, so we are currently planning contingencies so we can proceed with selecting teams for those important events. Those contingencies may include holding the events behind closed doors, and under different competition conditions. The situation is unprecedented and, as you all know, constantly changing, so we will do our best to give regular updates.

It is important to note that we do not have any information regarding the Olympics other than the information from the IOC and Organising Committee to the effect that they are planning for the Games to commence on 24 July.

Club Training and Pool Access

We are aware that some pools have started to reduce access to their facilities. In some cases, this will mean that Clubs cannot hold their usual training sessions. We encourage Clubs and State Associations to keep in regular communication with their respective pools.

DA is not currently making any suggestion about ceasing training – which is not inconsistent with Sport Australia advice. We have taken the view, which our CMO supports, that diving training can be held with some important changes to the usual practices – which we firmly recommend (set out below). Of course, this is reliant on your pool and its current position.

FINA has advised that the American Centre for Disease Control has stated that it currently does not think there is any evidence that COVID-19 can survive in a properly chlorinated and filtered pool.

DA recommendations:

• The decision as to whether to hold training will be a Club by Club decision.
• Further, the decision to attend training must be an individual decision for an athlete and his/her family (and communicated as such).
• When conducting training, every athlete and coach should strive to be at least 1.5 metres away from each other, but preferably 2. Eg, bags should be placed 2m apart.
• Clubs and coaches should give consideration to reducing the number of athletes in the pool at any one time. Look to reschedule training times and perhaps reduce training hours to achieve this.
• Chamois and water bottles should not be shared; nor should they be touched by anyone other than their owner.
• All other health directives, such as regular handwashing, sneezing/coughing into the crook of one’s elbow or a tissue which is immediately binned should also be followed.
• Any suspected or proven COVID-19 infection should also be reported to your State Association as a matter of urgency so that other steps can be taken quickly.

Elite Athlete Priority

The final item I wanted to mention is that over the coming days, some pools may seek to reduce and/or remove access to public and/or Club training, while prioritising Elite athletes, especially those who have a genuine prospect of making the Olympic Games team. Further, elite programs will reduce or remove Club access to dryland training facilities.

We understand that this may be frustrating, but the Board and I would respectfully ask you to support this. These athletes have been training for at least 4 years towards this goal and as long as the Olympic Games are still planned to go ahead, we want to do anything we can to assist them to fulfil their dreams.

This is an incredibly challenging and completely unprecedented situation. As you all know, the entire world is grappling with this problem – a problem which changes on a daily basis.

We thank you wholeheartedly for your support and understanding. If at any time you want to discuss any of the above, or any related topic, please do not hesitate to email me at david@diving.org.au or call on 0413 310 114.

Thank you and best regards,

David Bell

CEO

Diving Australia